Saturday, March 5, 2016

We at DCIN are incredibly grateful for our supporters! Without your help, we couldn't do our important work of assisting diabetic kitties in need, educating people about Feline Diabetes, and helping to rehome diabetic cats. Your likes, comments, shares, and donations are what make DCIN's existence possible!

Some people may wonder where their money goes when they donate to our general fund, whether via monthly donations, one-time gifts, or participating in one of our fundraisers, such as the annual auction that just finished. Our general fund is what pays for our daily operations, which usually consist of sending out "starter kits" and Lantus insulin. Here's what we send in a starter kit:

1 Arkray glucometer ($5)

100 Arkray test strips ($25)

100 lancets (~$5, sometimes free if they've been donated)

20-30 syringes - sometimes more if the situation is dire ($3-4, sometimes free if they've been donated)

1 rice sock - this helps get the blood flowing in a kitty's ear and makes testing much easier (~$1)

1 catnip toy - because FD kitties deserve to have fun, too! (~$1 - we provide the catnip, and a wonderful woman makes the toys for us)

That's about $40 just for the basic testing kit that every diabetic kitty parent should have. And that doesn't include shipping! Even if we're sending just the kit, USPS postage can go up to about $10. So we're talking $50 per new kitty client. YOUR contributions make that possible!

What if we have to add in insulin? Well, we usually send 2 pens of Lantus, which probably cost us about $20 each (again, unless we've been lucky enough to have it donated). Add $1 for ice packs and $4 for the special thermal mailer we use to keep the insulin cool en route, and that's another $45 to the cost. If we can use USPS to send (which we do in the cooler months), shipping is still usually about $10. But when we have to go FedEx - hoo, boy! Overnight shipping can run us upwards of $60!

So if we're shipping FedEx overnight to a new client who needs a starter kit plus insulin, we're looking at about $150 just for that one package. YOUR contributions make that possible!

We've already helped more than 20 kitties this year, and we're just two months in. Think of all the cats your contributions have helped and will help!

The general fund also covers costs for insulins such as ProZinc and PZI, which we have to order directly from a company and have sent to the client. ProZinc is about $125 per vial shipped, and PZI is about $60 for U-40 and about $100 for U-100 shipped. Without YOUR contributions, we couldn't provide this additional insulin service to kitties in need.

Another service the general fund provides is assistance to clients with some vet costs. When these are relatively small, we pull funds rather than doing a YouCaring fundraiser for them - we reserve those for the larger bills and especially the in-crisis kitties. YOUR contributions allow us to do this!

When you donate to us in some way other than a YouCaring fundraiser, you're helping us provide these crucial daily items. Many of the people we help would have to put their beloved kitties to sleep without our assistance. A dollar to DCIN is a dollar that directly helps save a life!*

I and the rest of the DCIN Team salute ALL our fans - those who donate and who share, like, and comment on our posts. You are all life-savers! Thank you for your neverending support!

~Amy

*No funds go to the people who volunteer for DCIN. Every dollar we receive goes to support the cats in some way.